Differential Relaxation Technique

Differential relaxation exercise is thought to be one of the easiest and most effective ways to learn how to reduce tension. It’s commonly used as a stress management tool and for improving overall physical performance.

We tend to tense and over work many muscles that could be in a state of relaxation. In this technique, you’ll learn how to relax the muscles that you’re not using and only use the muscles that you essentially need. For example, if you’re typing, you need to move your hands and arms but you can relax the shoulders, neck and facial muscles. This will help you to feel less tired and more energetic throughout the day and help you avoid building unwanted tension. This concept can be applied to many activities including walking and running.

This principle can also be used in your yoga practice. In any posture, some parts of the body and certain muscles are actively involved in achieving and maintaining the posture, while others are involved to a lesser extent or completely relaxed. For example the tree pose; your legs, hips and trunk of the body need to be engaged but you can relax other parts of your body such as shoulders, neck and facial muscles. This relaxation technique will assist you to become more conscious of your body and improve your practice. Try using this method next time your on you’re yoga mat.

It’s thought that elite athletes can achieve a state of differential relaxation more easily than other people. The method avoids creating unwanted tension, which can interfere with the performance of skilled movements.

Try and incorporate this technique in your everyday activities and learn to keep your body relaxed. Remember to:

Use only parts of the body that you need
Relax the parts of the body that are not being used

Exercise

1. Lie in Savasana (full relaxation pose). Try tensing one part of the body and being aware of all the other parts of the body being relaxed.

2. Sit up and feel the whole body. Be aware of parts of the body that are working to keep you upright. Try and relax parts of the body that are not being used.

3. Now try standing up and doing the same

4. You can also try walking around and see if you can keep yourself as relaxed as possible

Awareness is the greatest agent for change - Eckhart Tolle

On a recent holiday to a small cottage I quickly noticed that there was no WiFi! This forced me to have a week (almost) without looking at a screen. I was amazed how much tension was released from my upper back.

I’ve always had tension in my shoulders and I tried lots of different techniques from physiotherapy, acupuncture and massage but none of them had any lasting effect. On the first day back to work, I immediately noticed tension creeping back in my head, neck and shoulders.

Here are some simple tips I used to keep the my neck and shoulders relaxed, even though I was back to the modern world:

1. Rest your eyes

Our sight is of the most stimulated senses so it’s really beneficial to rest our eyes regularly. Staring at screen for long period of time can easily lead to headaches and tension building up in the neck and shoulders. I understand that mobile devices are really useful, but it’s important to try and take some time off whenever you can.

Take the time to relax completely in Savasana (full relaxation pose) for at least 10 minutes every day. Try using an eye pillow or something to cover your eyes to help you to relax more easily. Your eyes and brain are closely associated and it will help to settle your mind. Don’t forget to switch off your mobile!

2. Improve your posture

Our posture has major effect on our body and if we spend a lot of time hunched over our desk, the muscles in our upper body can get tight and unbalanced. Even if you don’t have a desk job, we tend to do repetitious work, which causes tension and imbalance.

Doing regular asana (posture) practice is a great way to improve your alignment and increase your awareness of your posture. Whenever you sit, or do any activity for a long period of time, try to be aware of your posture and encourage balance.

3. Take the weight off your shoulders

We tend to carry lots of tension and stress in our shoulders; this is partly because our head is comparatively heavy for the intricate neck muscles. We easily get into the habit of rounding our shoulders and jetting our head forwards, bringing lots of strain into our neck. We can sometimes grip through our jaw and tense our arms and hands, which also causes the upper-body to become tight.

Pawanmuktasana exercises are designed to release tension in the joints and muscles. Series 1 is especially good for relaxing the shoulders, arms and hands. Many of the exercises are gentle circular movements that are great for soothing aches and pains.

4. Breathe Deeply

Breathing properly is one of the most important ways of reducing stress and tension. Most of the time we should be breathing slowly and deeply, but unfortunately many of us have learnt to breathe shallow and fast. This way of breathing can lead to unnecessary tension in the neck and shoulders, especially when we breathe into our upper chest instead of the diaphragm. It’s made even worse by bad posture: squashing the front body makes it harder for us to breathe easily.

Whenever possible practice abdominal breathing. Remove any tight clothing especially around the chest and waist so that the breath can move smoothly. Make sure that there is plenty of space in the front body, especially your chest and the belly. Visualise breathing down into the belly to slow and lengthen your breath.